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Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Dr. Tiemaoko Yo, the Chairman of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) has commended the government of Ghana for adopting innovative agricultural policy that enabled the country to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in hunger. “Ghana is ahead of UN deadline for the achievement of MDGs in Hunger after “.

Speaking during the open space side event on Monday to about 1,200delegates including Ministers of agriculture, scientists bioscience technologists, researchers, farmers, extensionists, agricultural reporters, civil society organizations from across Africa and the world in Accra, Dr. Yo said Ghana had demonstrated great leadership to the rest of Africa by adopting innovative ways to improve agricultural sector.

The 5 days conference which is organized by Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) in collaboration with the Government of Ghana would discuss innovative ways to improving productivity and resilience in food production.

The forum is under the theme “Africa Feeding Africa through Agricultural Science and Innovation” would among other things discuss and propose how Africa could move from competition to collaboration as parts of efforts to finding lasting solution to low productivity in Africa.

The chairman urged other African nations to follow Ghana’s example by committing themselves to innovative agricultural policy to improve food production. He said adopting innovative ways was the only means to boosting African agriculture and improving food security.

The Minister of Agriculture Mr. Clement Kofi Humadu urged African agricultural scientists and researchers to come out with a result oriented researches to improve low productivity in agricultural sector in Africa.

The minister observed that for Africa to improve and increase productivity there was the need for what he called specialize manpower training. He said, Africa needs to modify systems and policies in agriculture to be able to meet the growing need for food. He urged the adaptation of value chain and private partnership approach to enhance agricultural commodities.

Agricultural Research Scientists are battling yet with another challenging banana virus- Banana Bunchy Top Disease (BBTV ) said to be spreading across Africa.

The disease, according to scientists was spreading at alarming rate and needs to be curbed immediately before it causes havoc to banana plant in Africa.In a statement issued by Dr. Lava Kumar, the virologist with the International Institute of Tropical Agriulture (IITA) in Nigeria said the disease was devastating banana across West Africa with more farms in Nigeria—West Africa’s second largest producer of the crop. “If not checked the virus will devastate banana farms, and jeopardize the livelihoods of millions of farmers who earn their livelihoods from the crop”, he said.Dr Kumar whose statement came after a visit to farms ravaged by the disease in Idiroko, a border town in Ogun State.

Mr. Charles Onyeani, Head of the Post-Entry Quarantine, Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) has warned against the movement of banana planting materials from infected areas to uninfected areas to check the spread of the disease.

First discovered in 2012 by IITA in collaboration with the University of Ibadan and the Nigerian Agriculture Quarantine Service (NAQS), the disease is now widespread in Ilashe, Odan-Itoro, Ido-Ologun, and Igbogila, in Ogun State.

“Systematic studies on yield losses have not been done but empirical observations indicate 50 to 90% loss in the affected region,” Dr Kumar added, stressing, “There is a severe shortage of clean planting material.The urged urgent actions to prevent further spread and also help farmers in the affected areas.

” Nigeria produces 2.74 million tons of banana, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, making the crop one of the important staples in the country.

Devastation by BBTV on banana fields will have a negative impact on the country’s economy, and thwart efforts towards food security.Caused by a virus called, Banana bunchy top virus, BBTD is a serious threat to banana in SSA. The disease has been recognized in 14 countries in Africa; 13 of these are in SSA which represents a combined banana production area of 2.28 million ha, contributing 19.75 million tons of fruit per annum (FAO 2011).

The disease is known to occur in all the major banana production regions in DRC, Congo Brazzaville, Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and Zambia. Whereas, disease spread is limited to a few regions in Angola, Benin, Cameroon, and Nigeria.

BBTD was first reported from the continent in 1901, however extensive spread into new production areas were observed during the last two decades.

The disease has very recently invaded the Bénin (first reported 2011) and Nigeria (first reported in 2013) in West Africa. “The virus is also spread through an insect, banana aphid (Pentalonia nigronervosa), which is widespread in all the banana and plantain-producing areas in Nigeria and many parts of the world, said Dr Rachid Hanna, entomologist at IITA.

Infected banana plants become progressively smaller and stand more erect giving the plant a bunchy appearance.

Plants infected early in their growth do not produce fruits resulting in total loss of yield, while plants infected at later stages may produce deformed fruits.

The plant may eventually die, but often remains with its lateral shoots which serve as a source of infection for further spread.

The spread of the disease into new areas can initially remain undetected, complicating timely eradication work and prevention of new outbreaks. Once the disease is present in a region, it is extremely difficult to eradicate.

No durable sources of resistance have yet been identified. Eradication of infected plants and planting healthy planting material is the best available solution.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

The extractive sector particularly gold, iron ore,
limestones, diamond mining among others, could be an important source of
development for Northern Ghana. In spite of its potential to turn over huge
revenue for development and job creation, mining communities continue to suffer
from serious environmental cost associated with mineral extraction.

The wanton
destruction of the environment, air and water pollution among others by mining
companies has been a matter of concern to many right thinking citizens of this
country in recent times culminating in the formation of an interministerial
taskforce to deal with the situation.

While it has
been reported over the years that the activities of some mining companies were
having negative effects on the environment, the rate of destruction of such
activities seemed to be on the ascendancy.

In view of this
development, it is important for individuals, groups and organizations with
interest in environmental management and sustainability to play an active role in
helping stakeholders to ensure that Ghana’s environments were safe even as her
mineral resources were exploited.

Against this background,
the Media Advocates for Sustainable Environment (MASE) in partnership with the
Rural Media Network (RUMENT) has taken steps to monitor mining activities at
Sheini in the Tatale District of the Northern Region to ensure environmental
sustainability and to prevent further depletion of the country’s ecological
system.

Thus, one
important issue currently being monitored by MASE is the Sheini iron ore thatwas discovered in the 1960s and drilling and exploration
conducted between 1961 and 1965 by Soviet Geologists covering a very large area
of the eastern part of the Northern Region.

That exploration
test confirmed that, the Sheini iron ore deposit was the largest, finest and in
commercial quantity in the whole of Africa. Other geological surveys had shown
that Sheini ironstones react extremely well to a magnetizing reduction roast
process, which reduces iron in the form of hematite (Fe2O3) to magnetite
(Fe3O4) and ultimately to metallic iron (Feo) and that its quality was
uncomparable while its quantity could be extracted continuouly for 100 years.

National Coordinator, MASE Npong Francis

At a press briefing
in Tamale, MASE disclosed that information received from sources within Ghana’s
Minerals Commission indicated, that the Sheini Iorn Concession had been given
out to a joint-venture company through a process that was concealed because
there was no wide consultation.

According to the
group, it appeared therefore, that the government had given out the only
northern strategic asset without the full involvement of chiefs, communities
and stakeholders whose livelihoods would directly or indirectly be affected.

“This is a cause
for concern realizing the impact of mining on the environment. The failure by
the government to let communities, and the general public know, understand and
exercise their democratic rights including their right to “free prior informed
consent”, compensations and resettlement if any, and the right to prevent
conflict arising from the development of the concession are disturbing”, MASE
Spokesperson Npong Balikawu lamented.

MASE called on
the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Minerals Commission and the Ministry
of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation to tell the people of the Northern
Region whether the Sheini Iron Ore deposit had been given out as a concession
to a company or not.

It also wanted
to know the name of the company, who the managers were and how the selection
process was done, stressing “We also want to know what arrangements have been
made in consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to mitigate
any environmental degradation that may occur”.

MASE hinted that
a time bomb was waiting to explode in the area if issues relating to Sheini
iron ore were not handled transparently and in consultation with the various stakeholders.

The Media
Advocates for Sustainable Environment is a network of environmental journalists
formed in 2009 under the auspices of the Rural Media Networkand the KASA environmental governance
project. The core membership of MASE are environmental reporters and advocates.

MASE members
work to promote best environmental practices for development and also educate
people on best sanitation and agricultural practices and climate change issues.

According to Alhassan, between 1962 to 1989 rice farming was booming in the area and farmers had to get to the farm early to provide security to the crop against rodents. A lack of public transportation to and from farms and market centres, where farmers would be selling their produce, required another solution – and it was the bicycle. “Mobility became very important: you need to be on the farm on time, else the birds will destroy the rice. So bicycle became the most important thing in our life,” he said.

Today, the bicycle is still the most important means of transportation for rural farmers in northern Ghana where access roads are non-existing. “We prefer bicycles to other forms of transportation because it is cheaper, easy to repair, and does not pollute the environment,” said Moses Binjo, a 46-year-old farmer. Small carriers can also be attached to the bikes to carry foodstuff enough to feed a family for a day.

For Binjo, riding a bicycle is also a comfortable exercise that “relaxes our muscles when we are not doing any hard work during lean farming season.” He himself suffered from knee injury but says that cycling frequently had fixed that.

According to William, in rural Ghana almost everybody knows how to ride a bike. For women, cycling reduces the fatigue from carrying workloads and babies on their backs.

Adult Bicycling.com states that riding a bike increases cardiovascular fitness, strength, balance and flexibility, stamina and endurance and helps burn lots of calories, all of which improves the overall health of an individual. Cycling is also a stress releaser.

Hafisatu Adams learning how to ride a bike. Picture by Npong Francis/ThinkBrigade.com.

But for the poor rural farmer, health and environmental cleanness reasons are not the main concerns; for them, cycling is just a matter of necessity, a means of livelihood, transportation and communication.

Adams Fuseina, a farmer, said: “My farm is miles away [from my home]. Before, we used to sleep in our farms and come home over the weekends, but with the help of a bicycle we could easily visit our farms and come back the same day.” She wanted to be close to her children – a challenge successfully eliminated by the bicycle.

“You can go and come back to sleep with your family, so we don’t bother too much managing our farms and families at the same time. The bicycle has bridged the gap that previously existed between our farms and families,” she said.

Fuseina’s youngest child, 4-year-old Hafisatu Adams, is currently learning how to ride a bike. She will soon join her friends who ride their bicycles to and from the community school.

Farmers in some communities in the Upper East region livelihoods have been threatenedbecause of poor yields recorded in 2012 farming season.

The poor farmers who are now relying on water melons for their livelihoods sustainability experienced poor yield when they allegedly used same foundation seeds (improved seeds) from the previous farming season which affected the performances of farms leaving farmers deeplydisappointed in the so-called improved seeds.

The fears of these farmers heighten because of the fast perishability and un-dependability ofwater melons putting their livelihoods under a critical condition. Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Enquirer, the assembly member for Bantafarigu/Farfar Electoral Area in the Garu-Tempane District of the Upper East Region Mr. Joseph Duut Yennukor who disclosed this said, farmers were alarmedby the failure of the crops. He said they have to resort into the cultivation of water melons as a adaptation and mitigation measures to sustain their livelihoods.

The assembly member however, could not tell what caused the failure of the crop but blamed it on the foundation seeds they acquired from the Presbyterian Agriculture Station in Garu (PAS-G), erratic rainfall and expensive agronomic practices or the lack of knowledge of it. “We adopted the cultivation of water melons as alternative livelihoods strategies which we sell to buy foodstuff”, he said. He said that, the farmers have to resort into water melons farming adaptation and mitigation processes to sustain theirlivelihoods.

“But this crop is perishable and anytime soon its season will be over and that means that a lot of us will sleep without food”, he said. The assembly member said the farmers are in a distress situation challenged with alife threatening condition and were now relying on sales of water melons for survival either then that it would be difficult for these farmers, he said.

When contacted the manager of Presbyterian Agriculture Station in Garu, Mr. Solomon Atigah said, the affected farmers used the foundation seeds supplied to them by his outfit the previous year and that affected the output of their farms. He explained that genetically modified or improved crops could not be planted twiceand that farmers who adopted hybrid crops would have to buy seeds each year to be able to increase their productivity adding that this farmers failed to heed to the directive of his outfit.

“The yield was good the previous year so they thought it will be the same when they used the same seeds but that does not work with hybrid or improved seeds”, he said. Mr. Atigah pointed out that these community farmers also failed to follow the prescribed agronomic practices relating to hybrid seeds.

He said, it is this reason that most farmers even in advance countries are against the introduction of genetically modified crops because it makes farmers “more vulnerable and more dependable”. “Farmers who use genetically seeds always have to buy the seeds, but the cost of buying such seeds are high and their availability not reliable”, he said.He said the flooding of ‘killer seeds” and banned agro chemicals in the market without a clear governmental policy to deal with it would affect greatly the agriculture sector of the country in the long run. The Manager alleged that some banned agro chemicals that found their way into the country are repackedby some unscrupulous individuals without recourse to national food security the situation he said must be checked.

The influx of such banned agro products in the Ghanaian market he said was an evident of porous, weak and failed systems.

The Director of Ministry of Food and Agriculture in charge of Garu-Tempane District, Mr. Paul S. Ayagiba told the Enquirer that the affected farmers situation arose as a result of inappropriate agronomic practices. He hinted that the farmers were adopting too much to the use of chemicals and that even the water melons from the region are fast losing it value and consumption rate because of the chemicalization of the crop. “People are now conscious of their health and are selective of what they eat explaining why the consumption rate of water melons in the region is reducing drastically”,he said.

The farmers made this rather disturbing revelation at a climate change adaptation review workshop organised by Care international Ghana under the auspices of Adaptation Learning Programme for Africa (ALP). The farmers were alarmed by the influx of “killer seeds” and alleged banned agro chemicals in the market saying if the situation was not control could put their lives in danger.

Friday, October 26, 2012

THE importance of forests to human life cannot be overemphasized. According to agric scientists, forests, apart from conserving nature, are a source of life.

They purify the air that we breathe, serve as habitat for the animals that we feed on, and preserve climatic temperatures to protect our bodies. In Africa, in particular, forests are the main source of herbs and many of the food we eat.

Experts have also noted that forests play a crucial role in helping mitigate the impact of climate change on humans.

Some illegally-sawn timber that were recently seized in Saboba

According to the Director of the United Nations (UN) Forum on Forests Secretariat, Mr Pekka Patosaary, forests can act as a ‘sink’ to absorb greenhouse emissions and store large quantities of carbon for extended periods of time.

No wonder the developed world is now committing itself to invest in afforestation projects in Africa under the United Nations’ Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) initiative.

One is therefore at a lost why forests in the Northern Region of Ghana are being depleted at such an alarming rate, in spite of how essential they are to the livelihoods of the people in the region.

Checks at the Forestry Commission indicate that there are 24 forest reserves in the Northern Region.

The region even boasts of having the largest forest reserve in Ghana, the Yakombo Forest Reserve, near Buipe, which occupies an estimated land area of 1,160km².

Each year, more trees are planted in various parts of the region so as to create new or replenish existing woodlots and forest plantations.

Currently, the Forestry Services Department (FSD) of the Forestry Commission is establishing large acres of forest plantations in various parts of the region through the National Forest Plantation Development Programme.

During a recent visit to the Northern Region by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Lands and Forestry, the Northern Regional Forestry Manager, Mr Ebenezer Djaney Djagbletey, revealed that the region had exceeded its targets for the plantation programme.

“A total area of 3,309 hectares had been planted by the end of December, 2010, which is far higher than the 2000 hectares target that had been set,” he told the committee.

He said in Yendi alone, a total area of 1,126 hectares was planted in off-reserve areas and 200 hectares in existing forest reserves.

In Tamale, a total area of 462 hectares was planted in off-reserve areas, whiles 70 hectares of areas located within forest reserves had been planted.

In spite of all these glamorous statistics about the establishment of large acres of forest plantations, the question to ask is “how many of these trees would survive?”

How many would become prey to the painful blade of chain-saw operators and how many would crumble when the dry season fires start?

Statistics from the EPA paint a gloomy picture about the depletion of forest resources in the Northern Region.

According to the EPA, the region loses 38, 000 hectares of its tree cover every year due to activities such as indiscriminate bush burning, deforestation, use of chemicals in fishing, over grazing by livestock and illegal commercial logging.

Just recently, the FSD intercepted large quantities of illegally sawn rosewood, which had been felled from forest plantations in the Saboba district.

Due to the depletion of forests and the vegetation, some parts of the region are being reduced to desert-like conditions and this has caused a reduction in food and water resources and also increased the intensity and duration of droughts and disasters in the north.

It is sad to note that many community folk do not seem to know about the harm they cause to the environment and future generations when they run down forest resources.

The extent to which they cut down trees for firewood and to make space for farming and settlements exposes the region to desertification.

Unfortunately, forest conservation issues do not receive adequate attention from local government authorities and politicians in the region.

Under the noses of District Chief Executives, Members of Parliament, Co-ordinating Directors and traditional rulers, forests are destroyed and no one seems to border.

It is high time that the nation’s leaders and the entire populace were reoriented on the importance of forests and the need to conserve them.

Politicians, chiefs and opinion leaders in the region must stand up now to protect the region’s forests and not wait for calamity to befall us.

Crop Researchers at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Institute, Ghana (CSIR) are extensively divided over the introduction of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) crops into a Ghanaian agricultural sector.

While some scientists brushing aside the adoption of GMO crops for the bases of uncertainty health risks, others are of the view that, conventional crop breeding has not withstood the test of time hence the need for all new methods to improve food production.

A Crop Researcher from CSIR Dr. Abdulai Lansah in an exclusive interview with the Enquirer in Bolgatanga, Upper East region, said “Even scientists at CSIR are divided over GMO introduction with the basis of uncertainty health risks”.

There had not been any laboratory analyses that pointed to the fact that, the consumption of GMOs are dangerous to human health according to scientists. However, the introduction of GMOs has sparked various protests from religious, political to traditional raising fears about the introduction ofGMO products.

Dr. Lansah explained that, unlike the conventional crop breeding system that allows natural modification, genetically modified crop procedures use laboratory techniques to change the genes or characteristics of crops. “The genes or traits maybe from animals to crops, from one different plant to another and even from human beings to crops depending on the desired traits”, he disclosed.

He said this methods are raising a lot of questions and created a controversy over the GMOs products the world over. In US, UK and other developed countries, people some cases governments outlawed the importation of GMO products because of alleged health dangers associated to it.

Dr. Lansah explained that questions raised against the consumption of GMO products are most related to beliefs and alleged uncertainty health risks associated with such crops modification processes. However, he said scientists are still researching details about GMO products and until that “we can not confirm or deny questions raised against the consumption of GMOs”.

“For now, Ghana has officially adopted GMO cotton but scientists at CSIR are still testing genetically modified crops which are strictly confined” the crop researcher told this reporter when asked whether or not there are GMOs in Ghana.

Dr. Lansah said, though there is/are no known GMO crops Ghana except Bt. Cotton, people are however, suspecting some brand of soy beans in Ghana to be that of genetically modified. “Some of the seeds come into the market with no labels so it is difficult to differentiate between genetically modified and non genetically modified”, he said.

On food security, he said industrialize agriculture was the sure way out for Ghana. The industrialization he explained would resolved post harvest loses in agriculture sector in Ghana. He disclosed that not less than 40% of total food produce in country is lost in transit because of unavailability of preservation and storage facilities, and good infrastructure such as roads.